The merchandising rack of the present invention relates generally to merchandising displays for a plurality of generally planar upright items. More particularly, the invention is directed to an inclined ramp type of merchandising rack having a gravity biasing product filled container.
Prior merchandising racks have employed inclined ramps in which a plurality of generally planar identical items were stacked in a linear array. In many cases, the weight of the items themselves were employed to gravity bias the linear array in the forward direction. However, as an increasing number of items were dispensed from these prior art displays, the remaining merchandise often became jumbled, presenting an unkempt and undesirable display. This problem was met in the prior art by using a variety of different spring biasing mechanisms for urging the product array forward or by backing up the product array with a sliding gravity biasing weight. Problems with these prior art arrangements stem from the expense of providing a mechanical spring mechanism and the space penalty that is paid for a gravity biasing weight.
Display racks are found in the prior art wherein a plurality of rectangular shipping containers are disposed on a forwardly inclined ramp. The tops of the shipping containers are opened and as the product disposed in the foremost shipping container is exhausted, the shipping container is removed to allow a second shipping container to slide downward along the ramps to a dispensing position. These shipping containers do nothing to enhance the aesthetic appearance of the display and when one of the containers is partially exhausted of the product being dispensed therefrom, there is nothing to prevent the remaining product contained within the container from becoming unkempt and disorderly in appearance.